Speed dependent displaying of information items in a graphical user interface

ABSTRACT

An apparatus with a graphical user interface includes a processor, a display screen coupled to said processor, and a navigational input device coupled to said processor. The processor is configured to display a plurality of information items on the display screen, position the information items on the display screen as a string of information items along a path, move the string of information items along said path in response to input from said navigational input device, and change a shape of said path in relation to a speed at which the string of information items moves along the path by including only straight sections at zero speed of movement of the string of information items and including one or more curves at increased speeds of movement of the string of information items.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/535,104, filed 26 Sep. 2006, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

The disclosed embodiments relate to user interfaces of apparatus, in particular to user interfaces of apparatus that include a display screen on which a plurality of information items can be moved along a path under user control through the use of a navigational input device.

BACKGROUND

Increased processing power has made it easier to manipulate information items on a display of a mobile electronic device, for example through presence of improved graphics accelerators. Several attempts have been made to put this increase processing power to use in improving the user-friendliness of graphical Uls. For example, it is now possible to show three dimensional objects on mobile electronic devices and to show two-dimensional objects in a three-dimensional UI space. However, these attempts have mainly cluttered the user interface for the normal user when effects steal the attention from the tasks to be performed. This is a new situation in mobile electronic devices. Solutions for more intuitive UI graphics are needed. Thus, there is a desire for more flexible and intuitive ways of UI navigation visualizations.

On the above background, it would be advantageous to at least partially fulfill one or more of the above indicated desires.

It would also be advantageous to provide a more intuitive way of visualizing information items that are displayed on a display screen an electronic device.

SUMMARY

In one embodiment string of information items is displayed on a display screen along a path, allowing the user to control the speed of movement of the information items along the path through a navigational input means and changing the shape of the path in relation to the speed of movement of the string of items along the path.

The changing shape of the path provides the user with an optical feedback and thereby improves the feeling of control over the speed of movement of the items in the string. Thus, user confidence is improved and the acceptance of the technology is increased.

Further features, advantages and properties of the apparatus, the user interface, the method and the software product, according to the disclosed embodiments will become apparent from the detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following detailed portion of the present description, the disclosed embodiments will be explained in more detail with reference to the exemplary embodiments shown in the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a mobile electronic device according to the disclosed embodiments;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the general architecture of a mobile electronic device of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 shows three screenshots illustrating a method of operating the user interface according to the disclosed embodiments;

FIG. 4 shows two screenshots illustrating another method of operating the user interface according to the disclosed embodiments; and

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the user interface according to the disclosed embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, the electronic device and the method according to the disclosed embodiments in the form of a personal computer, PDA, mobile terminal or a mobile communication terminal in the form of a cellular/mobile phone are described.

FIG. 1 illustrates a mobile terminal according to the disclosed embodiments in the form of a mobile telephone by a front view. The mobile phone 1 comprises a user interface having a housing 2, a display 3, an on/off button (not shown), a speaker 5 (only the opening is shown), and a microphone 6 (not visible in FIG. 1). The phone 1 according to at least one embodiment may be adapted for communication via a cellular network, such as the GSM 900/1800 MHz network, but could just as well be adapted for use with a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, a 3G network, or a TCP/IP-based network to cover a possible VoIP-network (e.g. via WLAN, WIMAX or similar) or a mix of VoIP and Cellular such as UMA (Universal Mobile Access).

The keypad 7 has a first group of keys 8 as alphanumeric keys, by means of which the user can enter a telephone number, write a text message (SMS), write a name (associated with the phone number), etc. Each of the twelve alphanumeric keys 8 is provided with a figure “0-9” or a sign “#” or “*”, respectively. In alpha mode each key is associated with a number of letters and special signs used in the text editing.

The keypad 2 has additionally a second group of keys comprising two softkeys 9, two call handling keys (offhook key 11 and onhook key 12), and a 5-way navigation key 10 (up, down, left, right and center: select/activate). The function of the softkeys 9 depends on the state of the phone, and navigation in the menu is performed by using the navigation-key 10. The present function of the softkeys 9 is shown in separate fields (soft labels) in a dedicated area 4 of the display 3, just above the softkeys 9. The two call handling keys 11,12 are used for establishing a call or a conference call, terminating a call or rejecting an incoming call. This key layout is characteristic for e.g. the Nokia 6230i™ phone.

The navigation key 10 is a four- or five-way key which can be used for cursor movement, scrolling and selecting (five-way key) and is placed centrally on the front surface of the phone between the display 3 and the group of alphanumeric keys 7.

A releasable rear cover (not shown) gives access to the SIM card (not shown), and the battery pack (not shown) in the back of the phone that supplies electrical power for the electronic components of the mobile phone 1.

The mobile phone 1 has a flat display 3 that is typically made of an LCD with optional back lighting, such as a TFT matrix capable of displaying color images. A touch screen may be used instead of a conventional LCD display.

FIG. 2 illustrates in block diagram form the general architecture of the mobile phone 1 constructed in accordance with the presently disclosed embodiments. The processor 18 controls the operation of the terminal and has an integrated digital signal processor 17 and an integrated RAM 15. The processor 18 controls the communication with the cellular network via the transmitter/receiver circuit 19 and an internal antenna 20. A microphone 6 coupled to the processor 18 via voltage regulators 21 transforms the user's speech into analogue signals, the analogue signals formed thereby are A/D converted in an ND converter (not shown) before the speech is encoded in the DSP 17 that is included in the processor 18. The encoded speech signal is transferred to the processor 18, which e.g. supports the GSM terminal software. The digital signal-processing unit 17 speech-decodes the signal, which is transferred from the processor 18 to the speaker 5 via a D/A converter (not shown).

The voltage regulators 21 form the interface for the speaker 5, the microphone 6, the LED drivers 91 (for the LEDS backlighting the keypad 7 and the display 3), the SIM card 22, battery 24, the bottom connector 27, the DC jack 31 (for connecting to the charger 33) and the audio amplifier 32 that drives the (hands-free) loudspeaker 25.

The processor 18 also forms the interface for some of the peripheral units of the device, including a (Flash) ROM memory 16, the graphical display 3, the keypad 7, the ringing tone selection unit 26, an incoming call detection unit 28, a music data recording medium 36, a music player 37 and a music reproduction unit 38.

The processor 18 may include a graphics accelerator, such as a 3D graphics accelerator, or the graphics accelerator may be a separate processor (not shown).

The software in the RAM 15 and/or in the flash ROM 16 contains instructions for the processor 18 to perform a plurality of different applications and functions.

FIG. 3 illustrates three screenshots of a gallery application according to the disclosed embodiments in which thumbnails of pictures stored in the memory of the mobile phone 1 are displayed as a string of information items 43 on the display screen 3. The left softkey label 41 and the right softkey label 42 are displayed on the lower part of the display screen 3, and allow the user to access options related menu via the left softkey 9 and to leave the gallery application via the right softkey 9.

In screenshot 3.1 the string of information items 43 is not moving and the information items are arranged in the string in accordance with a substantially rectangular path 45. When the user presses the navigation key 10 on the left or on the right side the processor 18 will start to move the stream of information items along the path 45. One of the information items 43 is highlighted by a box 46, and the highlighted information item can be selected by centrally pressing the navigation key 10. When the information item is a picture, the picture associated with the thumbnail will be shown on the display screen 3 when the information item is selected.

According to other embodiments, the information items can be other items than picture thumbnails. The following is a non-exhaustive list of types of information items that can be used in connection with the disclosed embodiments: thumbnails of videos thumbnails (video stills), pictures of audio, such as album art, mp3-tagging (rock, pop, funk, house, classical, continue yourself), phonebook pictures/names, sms'es (text or pictures of the person sending them), radio stations (tag of music, picture), command buttons, and menu items.

In screenshot 3.2 the user has pressed the navigation key 10 on the right side, and the processor has started to move the information items 43 in the string along the path 45 in the direction of the arrow (pressing the left side of the navigation key 10 will result in a movement in the opposite direction). When the string was not moving, the path 45 had a substantially rectangular shape. Now that the string of information items 43 is moving at a relatively low speed, the corners of the path 45 are no longer sharp, but have become rounded off to form curved sections of the path 45, so that the rectangle has become a rounded rectangle. Further, the shape of the information items has changed from a rectangle to a parallelogram to indicate to the user that a certain amount of speed is associated with these information items 43.

The processor 18 increases the speed of the movement of the string of information items for as long as the user keeps pressing the navigation key 10. According to an embodiment the processor limits the maximum speed of movement of the string information items, so after a while there will be no further increase in speed when the user keeps on pressing the navigation key 10.

In screenshot 3.3 the user has pressed the navigation key 10 on the right side for a longer period of time, and the string of information items moves at a higher speed. This is indicated to the user by the fact that the path 45 has become more curved and the path 45 now includes only curved sections with the overall shape of the path resembling an ellipse. Further, the parallelogram shape of the information items has been further changed with more slanting sides.

When the speed of the string of information items reduces, the information items 43 and the path 45 reassume (gradually or stepwise) the shape that they had at low or no speed.

The embodiment of FIG. 3 equally applies to strings of information items with another nature, such as menu items in a menu application, virtual command buttons and other graphical user interface objects.

FIG. 4 illustrates another embodiment by two screenshots of a gallery application in which thumbnails of pictures stored in the memory of the mobile phone 1 are displayed as a string of information items 43 on the display screen 3. The left softkey label 41 and the right softkey label 42 are displayed on the lower part of the display screen 3, and allow the user to access an options related menu via the left softkey 9 and to leave the gallery application via the right softkey 9.

In screenshot 4.1 the string of information items 43 is not moving and the information items 43 are arranged in the string in accordance with a substantially rectangular path 45. When the user presses the navigation key 10 on the left or on the right side, the processor 18 will start moving the string of information items along a path 45. The path 45 does not fit within the display screen 3, and thus, when the string of information items is moving, new information items 43 are added to the string at one end and removed from the string at the other end to create an endless loop of information items.

One of the information items 43 is highlighted by having an enlarged size 46′, and the highlighted information item can be selected by centrally pressing the navigation key 10.

In screenshot 4.2 the user has pressed the navigation key 10 on the right side for a longer period of time and the processor 18 moves the information items 43 in the string along the path 45 in the direction of the arrow at a relatively high speed. The processor 18 has adapted the shape of the path 45 to the high speed, so that the path 45 has become curved and resembles a horseshoe. Further, the processor 18 has reduced the distance between neighboring information items, and neighboring information items partially overlap one another. The change in the shape of the path and the change in the distance between the neighboring information items can be can be gradual with increasing or decreasing speed of movement of the string of information items or stepwise with increasing and decreasing speed of the string of information items. Also in this embodiment the speed of movement is controlled by the length of continuously pressing the navigation key 10.

The method of operation of the user interface according to one embodiment is further illustrated by the flowchart of FIG. 5. In step 5.1 the processor 18 displays the string of information items 43 on the display screen 3. The string of information items is initially displayed statically on a predetermined path 45. In step 5.2 the processor monitors the user input from the navigational input device 10. The processor 18 controls the speed of the movement of the string of information items along the predetermined path 45 in response to user input from the navigational input device 10. In step 5.3 the processor determines if the speed of movement of the string of information items has changed. If the speed has not changed, the process returns to step 5.1 and the string of information item follows the same path 45 at the same speed. If the speed has changed, the processor 18 adapts the shape of the path 45 to the current speed in step 5.4. This change may be gradual or stepwise in accordance with one or more predetermined speed thresholds. A large plurality of different shapes for the path can be preprogrammed and associated to various levels of speed.

According to an embodiment, the color of the information items can be changed in relation to the speed of movement of the string of information items along the path.

According to another embodiment, the size of the information items can be changed in relation to the speed of movement of the string of information items along the path.

According to another embodiment (not shown) the navigational input device for controlling the speed of the sting of information items can be a scrollbar, such as a touch sensitive scroll bar, a touch pad, a rotator, a scroll wheel, a touch wheel or a joystick.

The disclosed embodiments have numerous advantages. Different implementations may yield one or more of the following advantages. It should be noted that this is not an exhaustive list and there may be other advantages which are not described herein. One advantage of the disclosed embodiments is that a user will easily recognize at which speed the string of information items is moving. Another advantage is that the way of displaying information items is intuitive, since most things in real world react differently with speed. Another advantage is that a rectangular path is visually good when there is no movement, using the maximum available space on of the small device screen, but for fast movement it is visually better to use a curved path shape, since it is easier to see items in fast movement when they move smoothly along a curved shape. However, when navigating slowly, it is more effective to use the whole available space of the display screen. Further, the user interface according to the disclosed embodiments feels more “alive” and realistic, which gives sophisticated feedback for user actions, thus making use of the device easier. Trust to the device is increased due to improved intuitive feedback. Another advantage is that the user receives additional information about navigation activities.

The term “comprising” as used in the claims does not exclude other elements or steps. The term “a” or “an” as used in the claims does not exclude a plurality. The single processor or other unit may fulfill the functions of several means recited in the claims.

Although the disclosed embodiments have been described in detail for purpose of illustration, it is understood that such detail is solely for that purpose, and variations can be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the disclosed embodiments. 

1. An apparatus with a graphical user interface, said apparatus comprising: a processor; a display screen coupled to said processor; a navigational input device coupled to said processor; wherein the processor is configured to: display a plurality of information items on the display screen; position the information items on the display screen as a string of information items along a path; move the string of information items along said path in response to input from said navigational input device; and change a shape of said path in relation to a speed at which the string of information items moves along the path by including only straight sections at zero speed of movement of the string of information items and including one or more curves at increased speeds of movement of the string of information items. 